ARCHIVED - Murcia drivers declare “taxi war” at Corvera airport

Cabbies in the regional capital demand exclusivity at the Region of Murcia International Airport

Throughout the long process of opening the new Region of Murcia International Airport in Corvera, which is due to be completed on 15th January 2019, great importance has been placed on protecting the jobs of those who are currently employed at Murcia-San Javier airport, which will close to civilian traffic in order to make way for the new infrastructure.

Airport management company Aena has stressed time and again that all of those employed either directly by them or by ancillary service companies at San Javier will be offered the chance to re-locate to Corvera, but one group for which the company cannot legislate consists of taxi drivers.

Spanish law states that at airports only cabbies who are licensed within the municipality where the facility is located can operate, and for this reason at Murcia-San Javier only the taxis of San Javier are allowed to offer their services. As of mid-January, though, they will lose that trade and the new airport will become the territory of the taxi drivers of the municipality.

(The same law has been the source of much controversy at the nearby airport of Alicante-Elche, which lies within the municipal boundaries of Elche and where the local drivers fought for years to prevent “pirate” taxis operating outside the terminal.)

But no official confirmation of this wholesale transfer of taxi rights has been issued, and the Murcia drivers suspect that some sort of compromise deal may be in the offing. This suspicion has doubtless been fuelled by the attempts of the Mayor of San Javier, José Miguel Luengo, to secure at least some rights for the drivers who are registered there, a solution which the Murcia cabbies are not prepared to contemplate.

As a result, and in the face of what they see as a lack of information regarding the plans for taxi services at Corvera – signs that a “taxi war” was brewing were clear as long ago as January of this year - the taxi drivers of the regional capital have announced a series of weekly strikes until the matter is resolved to their satisfaction. The first of these will be held on Thursday 4th October between 10.00 and 13.00, during which time they plan to march through the city centre demanding that the law be obeyed and that they be granted exclusive rights at the new airport.

Should they not receive the answer they are hoping for from the regional government, the organizers of the protests intend to maintain the weekly tools-downs indefinitely.